Press clippings Page 15
Dara O Briain's gets Xmas wish as goat meets firey end
The Mock the Week Christmas Special had a lengthy joke about the annual fate of the Swedish Yule Goat, and now social media has provided the punch line as it burnt down again.
Suchandrika Chakrabarti, The Mirror, 27th December 2015Probably the most TV-experienced of the lot, thanks to BBC Three's Badults and more, the trio of Matthew Crosby, Ben Clark and Tom Parry have created a nicely put-together short as gags and observations build to a satisfying conclusion. It all starts as our Three Unwise Men break down on the way back from a Christmas Eve gig, where their cheesy puns had fallen on deaf ears. Trapped in their car they exchange wittily stupid musings on the likes of Secret Santa and the John Lewis Christmas ad. And Dara O Briain proves himself a great sport in a game cameo.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 9th December 2015Dara O Briain interview: comedy, Isle Of Man, IMDB
Dara O Briain chats to us about tough gigs, writing books, touring, and comedy...
Simon Brew, Den Of Geek, 25th November 2015Dara O Briain interview
"There's no way I could physically not tour for three years, I'd go bananas".
Tom Eames, Digital Spy, 17th November 2015Q&A: Dara O Briain
'How do I relax? I find it very easy. Getting unrelaxed is the difficult bit'
Rosanna Greenstreet, The Guardian, 14th November 2015Radio Times review
Dara O Briain is a very safe pair of hands for hosting Live at the Apollo, which continues its newly-demoted run on BBC Two this week. Whether it's the sexiness of men's elbows, the tragedy that built the Channel Tunnel or a very clever (if rude) way to get men to be completely honest, the Irish comedian holds court with a casual confidence and panache that most of his peers could only dream of.
That said, his guests on tonight's show more than hold their own, whether it's the wry deconstructions of Zoe Lyons or the dark and controversial gags of Paul Chowdhry. Forget which channel it's on - when this series works, it really works.
Huw Fullerton, Radio Times, 10th November 2015Review: Dara O Briain, York Barbican
His usual measured, TV-friendly delivery is abandoned for an unhesitating, breakneck gallop that leaves you no time to recover from one laugh before the next is upon you. He is merciless.
Heather Cawte, York Mix, 9th November 2015Dara O Briain interview
With a new show, Tomorrow's Food, looking at the future of what we eat, the comedian/science presenter explains why humour and logic are not a million miles apart.
Nicola Davis, The Observer, 8th November 2015Dara O Briain: 'Awards make zero difference'
He's a funny one, Dara O Briain. Funny, obviously, in the sense of making the public laugh (his stand-up tours are always sell-outs, he's sold more than a million DVDs and for the past 10 years been at the helm of BBC Two's panel show Mock The Week), but physically too.
Julia Llewelyn Smith, The Telegraph, 5th November 2015Dara O Briain hosts this new show which mocks TV. It seems he's now mocking the telly as well as mocking the week, but who's complaining? He's good enough to get away with it.
When I read this was to be a TV review show I expected something like Points of View, with O Briain looking back over the best and worst of the week's programmes, showing us little clips and reading out boring tweets from the viewers. I'm happy to tell you this is not the case, because the programmes featured here are warped, skewed and surreal versions of the shows we know.
We get a clip from Strictly Come Dancing or, at least, it looks like Strictly but something is wrong with it: there is no music, and so we watch the dancers twirl across the floor in an awkward, forced silence. And we have a clip from The Jeremy Kyle Show, but the usual mob of horrors demanding DNA tests have been replaced with children who're arguing about cheating on the X-Box and whether pocket money was pinched from the piggy bank.
It's good to know TV can laugh at itself.
Julie McDowall, The National (Scotland), 21st September 2015